A-J sponsors faith-based essay contest for young people

In conjunction with The Avalanche-Journal's third annual Religion Roundtable, the newspaper will sponsor a $10,000 faith-centered essay competition.

Young people will be asked to write on the topic ''Who Does My Faith Teach Me To Be?'' Prize money will be awarded in five categories, ranging from first grade through a university (undergraduates) division.

''Last year's essay contest was so successful we wanted to do it again, and we wanted to include it as part of our Make Kids Count project,'' said Norval Pollard, A-J Marketing Director.''Families and faith are two of the cornerstones of Make Kids Count, and we hope kids of all ages will take advantage of the opportunity to write about their faith.

''The A-J's Religion Roundtable is a unique event and a great opportunity for our newspaper to be involved in this community. The essay contest is a way for us to show how serious we are about our commitment to this event, faith and young people of the South Plains.''

The contest will be broken into five divisions: first through third grades; fourth through sixth grades; seventh through ninth grades; 10th through 12th grades; and university division.

A first, second and third place will be awarded in each division. The A-J will award a total of $10,000 to be used to assist the winners with their future educational endeavors.

Word lengths for the essays vary in each division. First- through third-graders should write no more than 50 words; fourth- through sixth-graders should write no more than 100 words; junior high entries are limited to 150 words; high schools are restricted to no more than 200 words; and university division entrants are limited to no more than 250 words.

After identifying marks are removed, all entries will be judged by members of The A-J's Pastoral Panel, a multi-denominational group of 15 religious leaders from across the city.

Winners will be announced prior to The A-J's 2001 Religion Roundtable, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. Oct. 25 at the Lubbock Municipal Auditorium. Featured speaker this year is Mike Yaconelli, who has spent more than 40 years focused on youth ministries.

Contest rules and all other pertinent information on the contest will be published in a newspaper advertisement beginning Aug. 12.

Doug Hensley can be contacted at dhensley@lubbockonline.com or 766-2173.